Austin, TX
After Texas banned puberty blockers and hormones for trans kids, adults lost care, too
:focal(0x0:6048x4024)/static.texastribune.org/media/files/200cc9993008801ce2e4270df7e25684/1120%20Trans%20Lege%20JM%2008.jpg "After Texas banned puberty blockers and hormones for trans kids, adults lost care, too")
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When the Texas Legislature moved to ban puberty blockers and hormone therapy for minors in 2023, Colin Zicko worried about trans teens.
Zicko, 22 at the time, knew what it was like to be a teenager seemingly trapped in the wrong body, desperate to stop the gendered changes brought on by puberty and better align his physical features to the person inside.
He also knew what it was like to be denied that option. Assigned female at birth, Zicko came out as trans when he was a teen. Without his parents’ permission, he couldn’t begin puberty blockers or hormone therapy, ushering in what he calls the “tunnel years,” when darkness closed in, his mental health plummeted and he contemplated suicide.
When he finally started hormone therapy as an adult, it felt like he could breathe again, the constant noise in his head about his body and gender presentation quieting enough to allow him to think. Zicko was angry that legislators were trying to take that peace from teens whose parents supported their transition.
And then he got a call from his doctor.
“The nurse, her voice was broken up and she was trying not to cry,” he remembers. “She said, ‘I’m sorry, but we’re going to have to stop caring for you.’”
Even though he was an adult, Zicko’s doctor was at Dell Children’s Medical Center in Austin. In May 2023, all the providers suddenly left the clinic after Attorney General Ken Paxton opened an investigation, citing a video sting by Project Veritas, a right-wing activist group, that claimed the practice provided certain gender-affirming care to patients as young as eight.
Zicko had two months of hormones left. Everywhere he called had monthslong wait lists. As an adult, there is no law preventing Zicko from accessing hormone therapy. But as he and other trans adults are learning, the state’s hostility toward trans-related health care for minors has sharply curtailed their ability to access care as well.
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“An attack on any trans person, regardless of their age, is an attack on the entire community,” said Laura Terrill, CEO of Planned Parenthood South Texas, which provides transition care to adults. “While the bans have been focused on minors, which is heart wrenching, the impact that it’s having on adults, trans adults is in shame and stigma, and questions of whether or not they’re going to be able to continue to access the health care that they need and deserve.”
Escaping the tunnel
As a young kid in rural Louisiana, Zicko didn’t think much about gender. All the kids played together, had the same interests and dressed similarly.
Then he moved to suburban Texas to live with his dad.
“All of a sudden, I was told that I needed to wear a dress. If I wanted to wear jeans, it was only while I was playing. I had to wear pink,” he remembers. “And very immediately, it felt wrong.”
When Zicko was 14, he came out to his family as trans. Confused and frustrated, his dad made him sew and wear a dress to prove he was a girl. Without his dad’s permission to get on hormones, Zicko started binding his breasts, eating foods that he thought might boost his testosterone and rapidly losing weight to try to stave off puberty.
The more his body changed to look like a woman’s, the worse his gender dysphoria, the distress someone can feel when their body doesn’t match their gender identity, became. He started smoking marijuana and disassociated from reality as much as possible, unable to stomach living in a body that felt so foreign.
When he was 19, he finally went to see a gender-affirming gynecologist, who connected him with doctors at Dell Children’s. They offered not just transition-related care but a holistic experience — he met with a dietician who helped him after years of disordered eating, a phlebotomist who kept up with his blood work, and a wide range of other health care providers to help manage his chronic conditions.
Getting on testosterone changed his physical appearance. It also calmed the anxiety and gender-fixation that had plagued him for years. Things that had loomed so large for him, like what he perceived as girlish hands, receded to a normal-sized worry.
“Gender dysphoria is a lying little bitch,” he said.
After years stuck in the tunnel, Zicko came into the light and started living as the trans masculine person he always knew he was. He got a job, found a community and reconnected with his dad. He finally got his dad’s support by framing it as an issue of personal freedom from government oversight, which seemed to do the trick.
“I know people who are like, if somebody’s been transphobic to you before, never forgive them,” he said. “But I’m very, very forgiving with people who have changed. People are just ignorant. Ignorance isn’t a sin.”
Texas tackles trans issues
In the years since Zicko came out, being trans in Texas has gotten both easier and harder. More people are coming out, creating more community, connection and strength in numbers. But the backlash has been fierce, especially from conservative lawmakers in the Texas Legislature.
Texas, like most red states, has primarily focused on legislating what children can do. They’ve restricted what sports teams trans students can play on, tried to limit what they can be taught about gender and sexuality, and banned minors from medically transitioning. Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the state’s child welfare agency to investigate parents of trans kids, and Attorney General Ken Paxton brought investigations and lawsuits against doctors that offered these services.
Even though these efforts targeted trans children, the effects have rippled across age groups. Some doctors left Texas proactively, while others who were targeted for treating minors also treated adults, leaving those patients without providers.
Planned Parenthood South Texas provides gender-affirming care to adults at its clinics in San Antonio and the Rio Grande Valley. Demand has quadrupled since 2018, as more people transition with fewer doctors to treat them.
“There’s so much misinformation from patients about what they are still able to access in Texas,” Terrill said. “So much of our work is providing patient reassurance and making sure our patients know their rights.”
When Zicko’s doctors suddenly left Texas in spring 2023, he had two months of testosterone left. He called clinics and gender-affirming gynecologists across the Austin area, each with a waitlist longer than the last. The soonest appointment he could get was October, six months away.
When his medication ran out, the old, familiar darkness returned. His period came back, his voice started to go high again and he felt his body changing, bringing with it crippling physical pain. He was often unable to get out of bed, unable to go to work, unable to imagine things ever getting better.
Desperate, he made another round of calls and was able to get a last-minute appointment with Planned Parenthood, where they refilled his testosterone and set him up with a new care team.
“And thank god, because I got to the point that I could not go another week,” he said. “I wanted to die, not because of my thoughts, but because I was hurting so much.”
Since then, he’s gotten a new job and moved in with his girlfriend. He’s living a life he never could have imagined when he was a teenager. He’s happy.
But he knows the fight isn’t over. Those months without care foreshadowed the pain and suffering trans people may experience if conservatives get their way, he said. The Texas Legislature will return in January, emboldened by incoming President Donald Trump, who has promised to enact an aggressive anti-trans agenda. Zicko knows more restrictions, more hostility, more debates over his right to live his life as he desires are on the horizon.
His dad offered to pay for him to move out of state so he can reliably access health care and maybe feel safer. He knows trans people who have left Texas, but he’s decided to stick it out.
“They want us to leave, because the more of us that leave, the less people there will be to fight,” he said, echoing a sentiment from his girlfriend. “But I want to stay. Because as long as there’s one trans person in Texas, then there are trans people in Texas.”
Austin, TX
Texas football: New commit Yaheim Riley describes his play style, being an Austin recruit
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When he heads off to college in a year or so, Yaheim Riley won’t have to travel far.
That was one the reasons why Riley chose to commit to the Texas football team. A three-star safety from Austin’s Anderson High School, Riley announced earlier this month that he will join the Longhorns’ 2026 recruiting class.
Riley is currently one of eight members in UT’s 2026 class, which currently ranks 26th nationally.
While recently working at a football camp put on by local products Sedrick Alexander, Latreveon McCutchin and Micah Gifford, Riley talked with reporters about his decision to play at Texas. He was previously committed to Houston, and he reportedly had offers from schools like Baylor, Texas Tech, TCU, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt.
“There’s nothing wrong with just staying at the crib,” Riley said. “I just moved here, and this city’s good. I’ve been here for two, three years, and I just like the environment. Then I just like (UT assistant coach Duane) Akina, I like the coaching staff up there too.”
According to a Spectrum News report, Riley grew up in Florida and has thus adopted the “Miami” nickname since his move to Texas. After playing at LBJ the past two seasons, Riley will suit up at Anderson this fall.
LBJ assistant coach Roderick Green wrote on social media that “Texas is definitely getting a playmaker! He can cover like a corner and come downhill (with) bad intentions! One of the best open field tacklers in high school football!”
But how would the 5-foot-11, 180-pound Riley describe his game?
“(Texas is) getting a hard hitter, a hard worker,” Riley said. “I love to work. If I ain’t working, I don’t know what I’m doing.”
Yaheim Riley is a rare Austin ISD recruit for Texas
Even though the Austin school district and Texas share an area code, a recruiting pipeline between the two entities doesn’t exist. Over the past decade, Austin High quarterback Charles Wright (2021), wide receiver Cayleb Jones (2012) and offensive lineman Mark Buchanan (2008) and LBJ tight end D.J. Grant (2008) have been the only Austin ISD products signed out of high school by Texas.
But Texas is coming off a season in which Andrew Mukuba, an LBJ graduate who started his college career at Clemson, starred in the secondary and developed into a second-round draft pick by the Philadelphia Eagles. Riley is hoping that he can also help change the narrative about the talent that exists in the city.
“Austin’s got a lot of slept-on talent,” Riley said. “I just say don’t sleep on the talent, there’s a lot of good people in Austin. I just will say just even though they might not look the part, just give them a chance. It’s a lot of good talent out here.”
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AUSTIN, Texas – Communities across Central Texas honored fallen service members at various Memorial Day events.
East Austin
What we know:
In East Austin, the Thankful Hubbard Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR) and the Patrick Henry Chapter of Sons of the American Revolution (TXSAR) held their Memorial Day Service, which has been happening every year since 2007.
They honored those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, including two Revolutionary War soldiers buried at the Texas State Cemetery.
The two soldiers are Lt. Robert Rankin and Sgt. Stephen Williams. Williams also fought in the War of 1812 and the Texas War of Independence. His eulogy was given by a descendant of his.
Over the weekend, the groups placed 3,200 flags on all the gravesites.
What they’re saying:
“We want to have this available for the public to come out and memorialize those who have passed in battle,” Joseph Howell Burton, president of the Patrick Henry chapter of TXSAR said.
Pflugerville
What we know:
Cook-Walden/Capital Parks Funeral Home and Cemetery in Pflugerville hosted its annual Memorial Day ceremony in the newly established Patriot Garden.
What they’re saying:
Veterans took time to connect and reflect.
“The Marine Corps really changed my life big time. It taught me how to survive, discipline, and how to be a father, a son, et cetera,” veteran Jim Newman said. “Memorial Day to us is just remembering veterans that have gone before us and that we survived in order to remember their names.”
Round Rock
What we know:
Round Rock also had a ceremony at Old Settlers Park.
“Memorial Day is not just another holiday. It is a commitment. It’s a commitment to remember, to reflect, and to ensure that the sacrifice of our fallen heroes and their families are never forgotten,” Major General Michael McCurry with Army Futures Command said. “These were not just soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and coast guardsmen. They were sons and daughters, husbands and wives, fathers and mothers. They were people with plans for the future with laughter and love to share, who instead gave everything for us.”
Memorial Day is also a time to honor Gold Star families.
“Your loss is immeasurable,” McCurry said.
The Source: Information in this report comes from reporting/interviews by FOX 7 Austin’s Angela Shen
The following article is from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation’s bi-monthly Foundation Action Newsletter, January/February 2025 edition. To view other editions of Foundation Action or to sign up for a free subscription, click here.
Case joins others for employees nationwide arguing Labor Board’s structure is illegal
Dallas Mudd helps connect people with the social services they need, and his and many other workers’ ability to do their important work shouldn’t be stymied because unaccountable NLRB bureaucrats are forcing union “representation” on them.
AUSTIN, TX – In November, Dallas Mudd, an employee for online social service coordination platform Findhelp, filed a federal lawsuit against the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on the grounds that the agency’s structure is unconstitutional. Mudd’s case, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, is the latest in a series of legal actions by National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys for employees challenging the NLRB’s authority.
Mudd’s case comes after he filed a decertification petition with the NLRB, seeking a vote to remove the Office & Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) from his workplace. However, NLRB officials blocked the vote, disenfranchising Mudd and his colleagues on the basis of unproven charges union bosses made against Findhelp. Mudd appealed the decision to the full NLRB in Washington, D.C., while also filing a federal lawsuit to challenge NLRB members’ removal protections.
Shortly after the lawsuit was filed, Mudd’s Foundation attorney also asked the Northern District Court of Texas to issue a preliminary injunction stopping the NLRB from adjudicating his appeal until the issue of the NLRB’s constitutionality is resolved. Mudd argues that he is suffering ongoing and irreparable harm by being forced to navigate a statutory process before an agency that he claims is unconstitutionally structured.
Constitutional Challenge: A Broader Legal Campaign
Meanwhile, in its own case against the NLRB, Findhelp has successfully secured an injunction against the NLRB in a federal district court making arguments similar to those raised by Mudd.
Mudd’s lawsuit follows four other constitutional challenges backed by the National Right to Work Foundation, targeting the NLRB’s structure. This includes a case for New York Starbucks employees Ariana Cortes and Logan Karam, who filed the first constitutional challenge to NLRB Board Member protections.
Their case is currently being briefed at the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, but since their groundbreaking lawsuit, numerous major employers have utilized the arguments first made in federal court by Foundation staff attorneys to challenge the radically pro-union boss BidenHarris NLRB.
“Independent-minded workers should not be forced to depend on biased agencies staffed by bureaucrats who exercise power in violation of the Constitution,” said National Right to Work Foundation Vice President Patrick Semmens.
“The Constitution does not permit a powerful federal agency to operate as the judge, jury, and executioner without proper oversight.
“Contrary to the wishes of Big Labor bosses, federal labor law is not exempt from the requirements of the U.S. Constitution,” added Semmens.
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